The Winter of Our Disrobement
by LadyStellaSkye
Summary: The lab is having some pipe troubles; Who you gonna call? They should've called a professional but that wouldn't be as fluff filled as this. Smacked goodness with a wee bit of Dantana and Flack/Angell


The Winter or Our Disrobement

Stella and Lindsay sat in the break room quietly. Stella's jade eyes read the file in her hands line by line while Lindsay watched tv.

"AH!!"

"What was that?" Lindsay asked her older friend with worry.

"I don't know, but it didn't sound good." Stella murmured.

Stella and Lindsay followed the shouts until they came to the lock room door. From inside screams and swears could be heard abroad. They two woman looked at each other then decided to take the plunge.

"Dammit!" Mac cursed.

"Mac?!" Stella gaped as all the men in the locker room were either standing in the middle of the locker room in towels or were still in the showers, trying to find the door.

"Stella!" Mac shouted blindly. "The hot water shut off!!"

"Okay, just turn the water off." She yelled back.

"I can't it won't shut off! Tell Adam to shut off all the water!" He shouted. "And get me a towel!"

"Lindsay, tell Adam to shut off the main water supply!" Stella shouted, turning to see her friend staring at Danny's behind while he was looking for his glasses. "Lindsay! Admire later! Go now!"

"Right!" She blushed, rushing out.

"Here Mac!" Stella held the towel out to him blindly, turning away in embarrassment.

"Thanks." He snatched it gratefully and wrapped it around him. "I don't know what's going on, but maybe the pipes froze."

"It's possible, but that doesn't explain why the water couldn't stop." Stella watched as Mac dried off his hair with another towel. She looked around her to find herself surrounded by half naked police officers. Mac, Flack, Danny, even Hawkes was in there. She suddenly felt more than a little uncomfortable and extremely out of place. A blush crept its way into her cheeks as they blindly stumbled and bumped into her, pushing her around. One in particular hit her in the back and pushed her into Mac who steadied her.

"Whoa...I think that was a chick." The man said to himself. He wiped off his eyes to see a stunned looking Stella in an angry Mac's arms. "Oh! Sorry Dt. Stella, I didn't mean to...not that I mind."

"Hey! Back off!" Mac barked protectively as the man looked at Stella suggestively, obviously enjoying the sight of the Greek Goddess.

"S-Sorry, Dt. Taylor." He muttered, holding his hands up.

"Stella? You in here?" Flack called, wiping his eyes off.

"Yeah, Don!" She answered.

"What's going on?" He asked his two friends, noticing Mac's hands were still on Stella's tiny arms protectively. They all looked as the frigid water trickled out and slowly stopped. "What's up with that?"

"I don't know. I guess Lindsay and Adam got the water shut off." Stella blinked, still trying to compose herself amidst the dozens of men.

"Lindsay?" Danny's voice piped from the sea of taller men.

"Danny?" Lindsay called from the entrance.

"Hey, Linds, what's goin' on?" Danny asked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, well, the water...uh..." Lindsay found herself at a loss for words as Danny stood before her in nothing but a towel. "Cold."

"Yes, we established the water was cold, but why?" Danny asked, touching her to make sure she was still with him.

"Oh! Something happened to the pipes, but we don't know what." The honey blond shrugged.

"We should check that out." Said Mac.

"Ap-ap-ap! Not before being inspected, gentlemen." Sid announced, clearing himself a path. "You were in dangerously cold water, and we can't risk anything. Stella, Lindsay, would you care to assist me?"

Stella and Lindsay smirked and pulled out their kits...seemingly out of nowhere. Sid nodded.

"So Sid, what exactly do you have to do, 'ere?" Asked Danny.

"You should leave Ms. Monroe to the questions."

The room was split up into quarters. Sid with one unhappy fourth. Stella with another, including Mac and Mr. Pushy. Lindsay had Danny and his quarter. Angell was told how to process Flack and was then sent to do the rest of his quarter. By the time they were all done the poor men were left to stand in there for another half hour in their towels.

"Okay, gentlemen, stay warm, drink fluids, especially orange juice, and you're free to go." Said Sid, snapping off his gloves.

"Stella, you and Flack come with me to check out the basement." Said Mac. He and Flack went to their lockers.

"I'M going to wait outside for you boys." Stella said in a somewhat high pitched voice, her cheeks a bright red.

"How did you like holding Stella like that? I know quite a few of those guys had an open interest in her." Flack chuckled as Mac's normally serious face became even harder. "Oh coarse you liked claiming her for your own."

"Hey, I just protected her from some of those creeps. Why did we ever even hire these clowns?" Mac squinted.

"Hey, you're just jealous 'cause they were all ogling Stella. I saw you holding her." Flack smiled slyly.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Don. I saw you flirting with Angell too." Mac laughed back.

"Come on boys, hurry it up!" Stella shouted from outside. "What are you doing, having a naked time party?!"

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you Stell?" Don shouted as a come back. "I know you're blushing!"

"Come on Don, stop teasing her." Mac smiled.

"Hey, the only one she wanted to see like this was you." Flack smiled back.

"What?" Mac scoffed, though he couldn't help the coiling feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Stella. Likes. You. Okay, now say it with me, Mac." Flack grabbed a very grouchy looking Mac's jaw and moved to his will. "Stella. Likes-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Mac barked, swatting Flack's hand away.

"Just accept that you like Stella and she likes you." Flack insisted, slipping his undershirt on.

"Look Don, Stella doesn't like me, we're just friends." Mac replied, buttoning up his shirt.

"But you do like her, and you're not just friends. You were never just friends. You guys have more physical contact than football players." He chuckled.

"You boys done?"

"Let's see, I don't see anything that's been tampered with." Said Stella, looking at the works behind the metal of the nozzle with her flashlight. "Nothing out of place...nothing misaligned...nothing."

"Well...maybe we should look at the pipes." Mac replied.

"In the basement?" Flack cringed. "It smells like, well, dead bodies."

"Wait! Let me see. I think this might..." Stella put the flashlight in her mouth and moved a tiny blue wire. "Blue wire?"

"Blue wire?" Mac repeated, coming over to her. He leaned over her shoulder and looked at it.

Spurt!

Stella blinked and crossed her eyes to look at her nose, watching a droplet of water run off. She barely got a chance to look up when a waterfall came from the showerhead, drenching her and Mac to the bone. It was cold too. Freezing cold.

"Stella! Shut it off!" Mac shouted.

"I didn't touch anything!" She shouted back, holding her hand in front of her face and reaching for the faucet. "It's stuck!"

"Here!" Mac struggled to put his hand on hers. It was wet and slippery, but somehow still warm. He grabbed the faucet with her and turned it with her.

"Got it!" Stella smiled as the water trickled out. One particular curl, that was no longer curly, hung in front of her eyes.

"What was that?" Flack asked, trying to hold back his laughter. His two best friends and bosses-Stella technically wasn't really his boss, but she didn't need to get technical to get him to do something-soaking wet, fully clothed, stunned, freezing and practically connected to each other at the shoulders. Mac was standing behind and over Stella, with his hand still on hers. "Oh, what a cute couple."

"Just get us some towels, Don." Mac mumbled.

"Right, you two wanna be alone. Just don't start-"

"Now, Don, now!" Mac barked.

"Right."

"I hate this basement." Flack murmured to himself.

"I know, it's just so creepy." Stella shuddered.

"Focus, you two, we're looking for the pipes." Mac chuckled.

"Hey Stella, is that a rat?" Flack gasped.

"WHERE?!!" Stella screamed, jumping three feet off the ground and hitting her head off the ceiling. A loud clang sounded as she came back down and into Mac's arms bridal style. "Ow."

"Sorry, it was an oily rag." Don snickered.

"You did that on purpose!" Stella protested like a child.

"I did not!" Don shot back, equally immature.

"Stella I'm sure he didn't mean to do that." Mac said gently to the Greek woman in his arms. She was still twitching from the scare of the rat. Her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, and her eyes had tiny little tears in the corners, ready to fall.

"I hate rats!" She yelled again.

"It's okay, Stell, I've got you." Mac smiled wider, realizing how he was holding Stella and how good it felt. He hadn't held anyone like that since...Claire. "I didn't know you could jump that high."

"Yeah, neither did I." She sighed.

"You're really tall, you know that? You're almost as tall as me...in heels, anyway." Mac chuckled.

"Yeah, I've always been tall." She shrugged.

"Are you two going to help me check the pipes like that? Cause I think that might be a wee bit awkward, unless you share a flashlight." Flack laughed, pointing at the two blushing detectives.

"Don..." Mac warned, though a blush was in his cheeks.

"I can get down now, Mac." Stella said quietly, her cheeks a bright red and her heart thumping loudly.

"This pipe looks clogged." Flack said, tapping it.

"With what?" Asked Stella.

"I don't know. Here, help me out." Mac and Stella looked up the pipe while Don looked for something to unclog it with.

"Oh, I think it's clogged with..."

Splat!

"How many times is that going to happen today?!" Stella yelled angrily, wiping brown sludge from her eyes. "Tell me this is coffee."

"It smells like coffee, and it looks like coffee, so I'm hoping it's not the alternative." Mac muttered, wiping his eyes off as well.

"I hate today." Stella grumbled.

"Hey! You got it unclogged!"

"This is my second shower today." Stella sighed.

"Mine too." Mac muttered from the shower beside her.

"I'm just glad the women's room isn't having any problems." She said quietly. Her cheeks were still crimson, her heart was still pounding and she was still, quite frankly, embarrassed and uncomfortable. If you were showering one stall away from your best friend and (considerably hot) boss in the women's room, wouldn't you be...well...I'd snicker.

"So am I, one cold shower a day is enough for me." Mac said, equally hushed. He rinsed his back off, closing his eyes out of respect for his partner as he turned full circle.

"Hm..." Stella brushed her straightened curls away from her face. Her hair was actually a lot longer when it was wet, the water turning her loops into waves that reached her shoulder blades. She turned slightly to see Mac's pale, muscled, strong back and chest as turned three-sixty. Her eyes wandered down...down...until she had to turn around with the red spreading over the bridge of her nose and to her ears. '_You didn't have to look THAT far down! Bad Stella! Oh but he is SO sexy..._'

"Mac? Stella?" Flack called from outside. "I should tell you, we-"

"AH!" Two screams came from the room.

"Mac?! Stella?!" Flack rushed in, worried for his friends.

"Oh for the love of God!" Stella cried, jumping out of the shower.

"Stella?! Mac?!" Flack froze.

"Ah!" Stella jumped behind Mac, her back to his.

"Don?" Mac froze.

"Ahem...sorry...I-I didn't see anything." Flack muttered embarrassedly, covering his eyes and turning swiftly on his heel.

"S-Stella?" Mac felt Stella's warm, wet back against his, and shivered. She was stark naked and using him as a shield. "Here, hold still, I'm going to grab some towels. My eyes are closed."

"Mm..." She squeaked, wrapping her arms around herself.

"This is unbelievable." Mac muttered, handing her a towel and wrapping his own around his waist.

"I can't believe this." Stella shook her head, her hair drying quickly enough so her sopping waves were now damp ringlets.

"I know, now is the winter of our discontent."

"So far we've had a rat in the basement that was actually an oily rag and a pipe full of coagulated coffee. What's next?" Stella groaned.

"I think I found the problem. The heating just shut off from last night's power outage, that's all. That must've froze the pipes."

"Oh dear lord." Mac shook his head.

"Unbelievable. I'm going to have a coffee TO DRINK NOT BATHE IN!" Stella huffed.

Mac, Flack and Danny were in the break room. Mac's steely blue eyes were scanning a case file while Flack and Danny were watching a game.

"AH!"

"That didn't sound good." Mac said, turning to the younger men.

"Oh, this is good." Danny chuckled.

"This is too funny." Flack shrugged.

"This is too unbelievable." Mac gaped.

The entire female staff of the crime lab was walking around the women's locker room blindly and in towels.

Lindsay was rubbing the bruise she had gained from running into her locker and Stella was shaking her head like a dog. "MAC!!"

"Yeah, we forgot to actually defrost the pipes, didn't we?"

"Yes, yes we did."

"MAC!!"

"Now is the winter of our disrobement."


End file.
